Archive for April, 2007

Many times during a deliverance, you will encounter more than one demon. Often there are other similar or related spirits that must also be driven out. Let’s take for example, if you find a spirit of hate, you may very well find a spirit of murder, anger, revenge, rage, and so fourth. If you find a spirit of murder, you may also stumble across a spirit of death, suicide, etc. There may also be a doorkeeper, which is the spirit that is responsible for opening the door to the other demons and for keeping them in place. For example, a spirit of fear may be a doorkeeper, and has opened the door to a spirit of dread, anxiety, worry, panic, and so fourth.

Keep this in mind when casting out demons. Always be on the lookout for additional spirits that may need to be cast out. These things will work together to bring much torment and bondage in that person’s life! One technique used among deliverance ministers, is binding the spirits together to their leader (often there will be a leader in the group) so that he can cast the entire group out in one sweep.

Yes! After all, Jesus DIED for them! Jesus didn’t come to save the righteous, but to call sinners unto Him:

Luke 5:29-32 And Levi made him a great feast in his own house: and there was a great company of publicans and of others that sat down with them. But their scribes and Pharisees murmured against his disciples, saying, Why do ye eat and drink with publicans and sinners? And Jesus answering said unto them, They that are whole need not a physician: but they that are sick. I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.

Did you know that Jesus loved us so much for who we were, not for what we’ve done, that He sent His son to die for us, EVEN before we came to Him?

Romans 5:8 But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.

However, if we choose not to accept the gift of eternal life (by accepting and believing Jesus and the work which He did for us)… what good does that do us?? Nothing!

So many times, a person will find it hard to forgive because they feel that they are letting the offender off the hook. While we are to let those who offend us off our hook, that by no means releases them from God’s hook. Did you know that God’s Word tells us to give place to God’s wrath:

Romans 12:19, “Dearly beloved, avenge not yourselves, but rather give place unto wrath: for it is written, Vengeance is mine; I will repay, saith the Lord.”

Apparently, if we take matters into our own hands, we can actually tie God’s hands by not ‘giving place to wrath’.

God’s wrath may not come upon them quickly, but rest assured that God does not lie and that mistake is recorded on their file, and He will not let that sin go unpaid. They will either have to turn from their wickedness and repent of the sin, or else face judgment for it.

Furthermore, if we refuse to forgive others, we will block God’s forgiveness of our own sins, and we will then be judged for them!

Matthew 6:15, “But if ye forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.”

Spirits of worry and fear are very common, and can vary widely in what type of torment they can cause. Spirits of fear are known to cause an unusual ’suspense in the air’ for the person. Some will experience a ‘hovering presence’ where they constantly feel like something is ‘haunting’ them, while others will experience much less. I believe that spirits of fear can allow a person to ’see’ or ‘hear’ demons around them, which creates much more fear in the already-tormented person.

Spirits of fear can also play a role in a person’s heath, and can set their physical body ‘on edge’ which can be dangerous after prolonged exposure. I’ve also seen where a person can deeply fear something, and then it came upon them — even growths on their body that are abnormal!

I recently cast a spirit of panic out of a woman who was tormented over the thought of possibility of having committed the unpardonable sin. Her body shook as the demon departed, and afterwards she experienced a very real and tangible release from the tormenting spirit! Even the countenance of her face changed drastically… you could see the difference it made for her… before her face was tight and tormented, but afterwards she glowed with peace and newfound freedom!

What are some common entry points?

Watching fearful or demonic movies is a great way to open the door to spirits of fear. Occult involvement, spirit channeling, etc. are also open doors to such spirits.

Incubus and succubus are demons that replicate the sexual functions of a man or woman’s body, and seem to have ‘intercourse’ with their host. Incubus resembles the male body and is known to approach women, and succubus replicates the woman’s body and approaches men.

What are some common entry points?

From my experience with working with women who have had the incubus spirit, most of them opened the door through an ungodly soul tie (formed through fornication or adultery). I believe they can enter through other routes, but this one I have encountered more than once.

Spirits of rejection are very common and encountered quite often in the deliverance ministry.

What is it like to have a spirit of rejection?

A spirit of rejection will cause a person to feel rejected, even if they aren’t experiencing rejection.

What are some common entry points?

If a pregnant mother attempts or talks about having an abortion, the baby knows that it is rejected and the mother practically welcomes that spirit into her unborn child (which she has spiritual authority over). If a parents makes a spoken statement about not wanting or rejecting their child, they can open the son or daughter up to a spirit of rejection. How is that? One good reason is that children are vulnerable to verbal abuse and will believe what they are told, and believing something like that is dangerous.

Somebody once asked me, “You put your life on the line when you cast out demons, don’t you?” My response basically quotes a verse in the book of Luke:

Luke 10:19, “Behold, I give unto you power to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy: and nothing shall by any means hurt you.”

I know of stories where spirits of murder have manifested and tried to kill somebody, but were unable to because the person was covered with the Blood of Christ! Pastor James Brandt was involved in one such case personally and watched as the demon tried to kill him, but could not touch his neck!

This is something that simply does not concern me as I go fourth to minister deliverance. I believe it is important to use common sense and keep your eyes open through a deliverance, but on the other hand, I take it literally when Jesus spoke of our protection in Luke (see above verse) and also in the end of Mark:

Mark 16:17-18, “And these signs shall follow them that believe; In my name shall they cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues; They shall take up serpents; and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them; they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover.”

If you look up the phrase, “They shall take up…” in the Greek, we find the word airo, which means to take away or remove. This is saying that we will remove serpents and we shall not be harmed!

Psalms also tells us that we will tread on demon spirits and even the dragon himself will be under our feet!

Psalms 91:13, “Thou shalt tread upon the lion and adder: the young lion and the dragon shalt thou trample under feet.”

Sometimes demons leave at the first command, while other times I’ve found myself rebuking and commanding them to leave several times before they finally come fourth. It is perfectly acceptable to command a demon more than once to come out before it leaves.

One reason a spirit may not leave is because it has legal grounds that is giving it permission to stay. Always keep that in mind as well (and be sure to cover that possibility the best you can), but also realize that there are times when a demon is just being stubborn, and needs to be driven out with persistence.

Did you know that holding onto our wounds (past hurts) can actually deny the Holy Spirit the ability to heal them? The Holy Spirit is a gentleman, and does not go where He is not invited, and if we do not invite Him to heal our wounds, then we cannot expect Him to go where He is not welcomed in our life. One of the biggest hindrances to emotional healing is simply letting it go and putting it into the Lord’s hands… allowing Him to heal that area of your soul. He is waiting to do it, but we must first make way for the Holy Spirit to bring fourth healing in that area of our life.

Another big hindrance to inner healing is unforgiveness. Did you know that holding something against another person actually cuts you off from God’s forgiveness concerning your own sins (see Matthew 6:15), and will actually put you into the hands of tormenting spirits (see Matthew 18:23-35)? When we are in this position, it can be very difficult to receive any type of healing.

Perhaps one of the most common mistakes I’ve seen in this type of ministry, is failing to find out and clean up the root of the problem before attempting to cast out the demons. For example, a young girl makes a vow (bound her soul) never to let anybody get close to her again, and then years later a deliverance pastor attempts to cast out a spirit out of her which continually puts up a wall between her and others to prevent meaningful relationships from forming. There’s a good chance that the pastor won’t even get the spirit out because the legal grounds were never broken up, and even if he did get it out, there’s a very real chance that it will return because it has a right to be there.

Another example is when a person has a bondage to addiction of some kind. The root of many addictions in either an unmet need or an indulgence in escapism in effort to escape reality (or projected reality). Let’s say a woman has been divorced and was hurt in the process, and she turns to excessive eating in effort to ease the pain, thus turning to escapism to suppress the pain and wound. In a moral sense, she is harming her body which is the temple of the Holy Spirit, and a spirit of addiction will gladly take her up on this opportunity to destroy the body which God has given her. Years later, she seeks deliverance from this spirit, but for some reason it doesn’t seem to budge (even after persistently commanding the spirit to come out in Jesus’ name), or the minister is able to get the spirit(s) out, but they keep returning. My first question is, were those wounds from the divorce ever truly healed? Or were they suppressed? Could it be that those wounds simply remained her the darkness of her soul, and are still infected? It would be a good idea in such a case, to make sure that the wound has been opened up (bringing it out into the open and before the Lord) and healed (stop trying to hold on to or justify the wound and allow the Holy Spirit to minister to them). Once that root (that which has brought on this bondage in the first place) is cleaned up, then it is time to move forward and begin casting out the demons.

When you clean up the root of the problem in a deliverance, you are giving the enemy no excuse to return. You are enabling that person to come into complete freedom in that area of their life, and maintain that freedom for the rest of their life.